Cramér-Wolrath, Emelie

Abstract [en]

The aim of this longitudinal case study was to describe bimodal and bilingual acquisition in a hearing child, Hugo, and in what ways these were guided by his Deaf family. Video observations of the family interactions were conducted from Hugo’s age of 10 months until he was 40 months old. The family language was Swedish Sign Language (SSL). With Hugo, however, the parents used one language base in which single gestural signs or vocal words were often simultaneously inserted, the latter when not in visual contact. Hugo showed awareness of visual attention to SSL communication at 22 months and differentiated vocal and gestural modality according to his partner two months later. During the 28-month and 32-month sessions, a grammatical analytic phase might explain why Hugo’s SSL was rare. Findings are possibly vital for a broader international audience than professionals who meet bimodal bilingual children.

Cramér-Wolrath, Emelie

Stockholm University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Special Education.

2013 (English)Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)

Abstract [en]

This dissertation based on a case study explores the acquisition and the guidance of Swedish Sign Language and spoken Swedish over a span of seven years. Interactions between a pair of fraternal twins, one deaf and one hearing, and their Deaf[1] family were video-observed within the home setting.

The thesis consists of a frame which provides an overview of the relationship between four studies. These describe and analyze mainly storytime sessions over time. The first article addresses attentional expressions between the participants; the second article studies the mediation of the deaf twin’s first language acquisition; the third article analyses the hearing twins acquisition of parallel bimodal bilingualism; the fourth article concerns second language acquisition, sequential bimodal bilingualism following a cochlear implant (CI). In the frame, theoretical underpinnings such as mediation and language acquisition were compiled, within a sociocultural frame. This synthesis of results provides important information; in the 12- and 13-month sessions simultaneous-tactile-looking was noted in interchanges between the twins and their mother; mediation of bilingualism was scaffolded by the caregivers with the hearing twin by inserting single vocal words or signs into the language base used at that time, a finding that differs from other reported studies; a third finding is the simultaneousness in which the deaf child’s Swedish Sign Language skill worked as a cultural tool, to build a second and spoken language.

The findings over time revealed actions that included all the family members. Irrespective of the number of modes and varied types of communication with more than one child, mediation included following-in the child’s initiation, intersubjective meaningfulness and encouragement. In accordance with previous research, these factors seem to promote the acquisition of languages. In conclusion, these findings should also prove useful in the more general educational field.